Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-10-08
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
Present Opportunities and the Future
Outlook of this Section.

Outlook of this Section.
This description of San Joaquin county
is intended to guide these people to cheap
lands, where they can have picturesque
homes, embowered in pomegranate trees
and orange groves, embarked with rare
and fragrant flowers and surrounded by
orchards and vineyards laden with their
rich and luscious fruits. There may be
other spots of earth as rich and attractive
as this, but there are none richer and more
attractive.
The Pacific slope is the brightest terri
torial gem of the continent 1t is an enl-
pire in extent and natural resources. 1t
has every element that makes wealth, that
sustains a dense population, that builds
vast manufactures, that stimulates trade
and that creates far-reaching commerce.
1t has rich soils, immense forests, mex
haustible deposits of the royal and useful
metals, a vast water system, and an incom-
parable climate. Its geographical loca-
ton is most favorable. 1t occupies semi
tropic zone From its mountain slopes it
looks down upon the great peaceful ocean,
upon whose shores dwell more than one
third of the worlds population. The heart
Of this favored region is Northern Cali
forpia.
MAGNIFICENT AREA.
The area of the northern half of the
State is 10000 square miles, or more than
100000 acres. 1t is larger than the
two great States of New York and Penn
sylvania, with population of 100000
1t is more than twelve times the size of
Massachusetts,, which has 100000 people.
1t is one half the size of France, that sup
ports a population of 100000 with in
comparable industries. 1t is larger than
Italy, whose fertile plains were described
by Napoleon as the granary of the world"
It's location leaves nothing to be desired
1t lies in the south temperate zone, be-
tween the frozen north on the one hand
and the torrid south on the other. 1t has
more than 500 miles of coast line, with the
finest land-locked harbor in the world,
which, through its Golden Gate, gives free
water communication to the dense popu-
lations of Europe and the untold millions
of Asia.
THE SACRAMENTO RIVER.
The great river of the West, the Sacra-
mento, washes this area. 1t has its source
in the extreme northern part of the State,
in the great mountain region, and passing
south, and after receiving the waters Of
great number of tributaries from the east
and west, pours then into the bay of San
Francisco This river furnishes water
transportation to large and productive
area, and its valley is of Incompatible
beauty and fertility, 1t enraptured the
Spanish explorers and Jesuit fathers in the
sixteenth century it excited the strongest
admiration of the bold rovers of the seas
in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen
turies; it extorted the most extravagant
praise from the pathfnders and explorers
in the middle of this century, and it made
the argonauts willing exiles from their
childhood homes at the commencement OF
the American occupation. Flanking these
valleys are two high mountain chains.
On the west is the Coast Range, which
overlooks the Pacific shores for 500 miles
On the east are the Sierra Nevadas, whose
pinnacled peaks form the eastern part OF
the State.
This physical confirmation gives every
Typographical feature known to earth.
There are wide, fertile valleys for him who
prefers the lower levels sloping hillsides
for the dwellers at the mountains feet,
and deep valleys, canyons, gorges and lofty
elevations for those who love the lights
and shadows of great mountains.
ATTRACTIVE SCENERY.
No other part of the earth presents a
wider and more varied panorama
of beauty and grandeur than this
garden of the Pacific slope. To
the west the great sea rolls her
crested waves against beetling
crags and giant cliffs, or over wide
stretches of pebbly beaches and
shores of glistening sands. The
gently rounded domes of the -
Coast Range, and the lofty sum
mits of the Sierras overlook pic
turesque valleys and forest parked -
plains Shasta and Lassen, the =5z
grim sentinels of the north, lift
their heads into eternal silence. -
Just missing the crowns Of eternal -.
SHOWS. z
THE GREAT RIVERS -
Flow through the grain-ladened
valleys, looking like ribbons of
silver set in cloth of gold Innum- -
erabie streams, from their sources
in the great mountains, dash ls<sssssss
through narrow gorges, pour in N
cleaning cateracts, down precipit- -,
Gus mountain sides and whirl in IT,,
silent eddies at the feet of over 5<a
branching forest monarchs. Great
woods darken the mountain sides zs.s#
and green oaks beautify the val
leys. txS
The soil of this section is OF
remarkable fertility In the val -
leys of the Sacramento and the
San Joaquin it was formed at the -
bottom Of an immense lake, which -
received the washings and wealth
erings from the lofty ranges that zy
surrounded it. For untold ages W.
the potash, the magnesia and lNIEsl
lime from the weatherings of EMn.
the magnetism lime strata, and Eslhsslil.
the soda from the decomposed kzSil
vegetation was carried, year after
year, and deposited in the bottom =
of this inland sea, where it was IEx.s
stored up in inexhaustible guam IsAi
titles for the uses of the tillers of i-Ss'
the land in later times. This -
accounts for the -
INCOMPATIBLE FERTILITY OF
THESE VALLEYS.
Judged by the analysis of the -.
chemist and the experience of the -
farmer, there is no richer soil on -
the earth than the alluvium in -
this drained bed of what was
once the great inland lake. Along
the foothills are the clay loans, -
composed of sand, clay, lime, soda,
potash, magnesia and iron. These -. -.
clay loans have every element of
ferGlity, and are known to be almost
ineEhaustible, bearing annual croppiligs
for e great number of years without
requiring fertilization. The evidence of
the iTexhaustible fertility Of the soil of